State launches probe into killing of four Kenyan aid workers in South Sudan

The government is investigating the deaths of four Kenyan aid workers in South Sudan.

The Foreign Affairs ministry said they were among six workers of GREDO, a local NGO funded by Unicef to build youth centres in Pibor.

“The six were ambushed and murdered by unknown gunmen on March 25 as they were traveling from Juba to Pibor, a town in the Eastern part of the country,” said CS Amina Mohamed.

In a statement to newsrooms on Tuesday, Amina said the ministry was engaging all stakeholders in the probe.

She said the Kenyan Embassy in Juba and South Sudan’s in Nairobi had contacted both governments regarding the tragedy.

Amina said the government will facilitate the coordinated transportation of the bodies back to Kenya for burial.

South Sudan security agents and officials from GREDO and Unicef are working to recover the bodies.

The country, which split away from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict, has been mired in civil war since President Salva Kiir sacked rebel leader Riek Machar in 2013.

The fighting has forced three million people to flee their homes, split much of the population along ethnic lines and paralysed agriculture, leaving the country facing famine, according to the United Nations.

The ministry said on March 14 that it had not abandoned four Kenyans jailed in South Sudan for 72 years.

Boniface Chuma, Ravi Ghaghda, Antony Keya and Anthony Mwadime were working in the country when they were arrested on May 29, 2015.

They were charged with various offences related to financial misappropriation and given 72-year jail sentences.

The CS told Parliament that she would follow up the matter but the families of the four said no action had been taken.